What Hurts The Most by Cascada

What Hurts the Most by Cascada is a 2007 Eurodance cover of a country ballad written by Jeffrey Steele and Steve Robson. The German trio released it in November 2007 as the first single from their album Perfect Day. It went top 10 in the UK, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Ireland, Finland and France. In France it reached number two. In the United States it peaked at number 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the dance airplay chart. It was later certified gold there.

Steele and Robson wrote the song several years before Cascada recorded it. Robson, an English songwriter, brought Steele an unfinished piece of music. Steele wrote the words. His first idea was to write about the death of his father. He dropped that and wrote about lost love instead. Robson then pushed for a higher key. He reasoned that the strain in the voice would make it sound more emotional. Steele agreed that the result sounded properly sad.

Country singer Mark Wills cut the first recording for his 2003 album And the Crowd Goes Wild. It was never released as a single. The Irish group Bellefire covered it the following year. In 2005 Jo O'Meara, who had fronted S Club 7, made it the first release of her solo career and the lead single from her album Relentless. That was the first time the song came out as a single. It climbed to number 13 on the UK Singles Chart.

Faith Hill also recorded it for her 2005 album Fireflies but left it off. Producer Dann Huff suggested it to Rascal Flatts. In January 2006 they released it as the lead single from Me and My Gang. Their version went to number one on the country chart and the adult contemporary chart and reached number six on the Hot 100. It was the band's first pop top 10. It earned two Grammy nominations and has been certified five times platinum. Its video won a CMT award. In 2006 Wills' album track reached number 51 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart.

By the time Cascada recorded it, the song was best known in the US as a Rascal Flatts country hit. Cascada was a German dance act. Singer Natalie Horler and producers Manuel Reuter and Yann Peifer, who work as DJ Manian and Yanou, had broken through with Everytime We Touch. That hit was built on a fast beat and a big vocal. They recorded What Hurts the Most at Plazmatek Studio in Cologne. Manian and Yanou produced it. They kept the melody and the lyric. They dropped the steel guitar and the slow build of the country arrangement. In their place came synthesizers, a pounding kick drum and a tempo of 144 beats per minute. For anyone who wants to play along or mix it, the key and BPM of Cascada's What Hurts the Most are listed on Song IQ.

The single came out first in Sweden on November 21, 2007. It entered the Swedish chart at number five. A US digital release followed within a week through Robbins Entertainment. The UK got it in early December on All Around the World, with remixes from Darren Styles, Spencer and Hill, and Flip and Fill. Germany received it at the start of January 2008. In the UK it peaked at number 10 and stayed on the chart for 19 weeks. It reached number four on the Scottish singles sales chart, number three in Austria, number two in Finland and number eight on the European chart. The BPI later certified it silver.

In the US the song entered the Hot 100 in January 2008 and climbed to number 52 that March. That is the lowest Hot 100 peak for any Cascada lead single. It did better on the dance charts, going to number one on Billboard's dance airplay chart and number two on dance singles sales. The RIAA certified it gold in October 2009.

Digital Spy gave it three stars and compared it with the group's previous single. Billboard's Chuck Taylor reviewed it favorably. About.com named it one of the stronger tracks on Perfect Day.

The music video for the American market was filmed in Los Angeles and released to US digital stores on January 24, 2008. Its story takes place around a house party. Horler works through the aftermath of a breakup until her former partner turns up at the door near the end. The international cut and the US cut use different scenes, mostly in the opening minute.

In 2025 Rascal Flatts recorded a new version with the Backstreet Boys for their duets album Life Is a Highway: Refueled Duets. Horler has said she still enjoys singing it because of its emotional melody. It remains one of the songs most closely tied to Cascada, alongside Everytime We Touch.